The present invention generally relates to articles of manufacture, apparatus and methods for electrical connectors. More particularly, this invention relates to articles of manufacture, apparatus and methods for installing electrical connectors.
Sealed wire to wire electrical connectors are used where environmental extremes might exist, in order to protect the electrical connection. Sealed connectors require a greater deal of care in their assembly than ordinary wire to wire connectors in order to offer this higher level of protection. Thus, assembling a sealed connector may be more difficult than an ordinary connector and must be done with care in order to ensure the electrical connection is made.
For example, it is necessary to properly seat male pins in the housing of a male sealed connector. Yet doing so may be difficult because a sealed housing is deeper and contains less space to maneuver the pins into their final positionxe2x80x94ready for connection.
Accordingly, it would be helpful to provide a position assurance device to seat or lock male pins in their final position ready for connection. Any such device must take into account keying arrangements. That is, standardized sealed connectors may have specific keying arrangements so that like male connectors may be locked to like female connectors. Therefore, any position assurance device must not interfere with the predetermined keying arrangements already present in the male sealed connector.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a terminal position assurance device for seating male pins in a sealed male connector.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a terminal position assurance device for seating male pins in a sealed male connector that does not interfere with predetermined keying arrangements.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an easy to use terminal position assurance device for seating male pins in a sealed male connector.